We’re still learning more about the tragedy that’s unfolded at The Covenant School in Nashville. But we know that, as of Monday afternoon, at least three children and three adults are dead. We know that the police have said the attacker was carrying “at least two assault-type rifles and a handgun.” And we know that in the state of Tennessee, lawmakers have been working to make it even easier to own guns.
Not that there’s much more room to lower that bar. The state already has few restrictions in place as it is: no waiting period between between purchasing and receiving a firearm; no license or permit required to own a gun; no need to register a gun with the state; no need for a permit to carry a handgun, open or concealed, if you’re over the age of 21.
There’s a wide and constantly growing disconnect between the high-minded rhetoric being thrown around and reality.
And yet Tennessee Republicans are still trying to remove the barriers that remain. As part of a settlement in a lawsuit from the Firearms Policy Coalition, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti cut a deal in January that made it legal for 18-year-olds to openly carry firearms. Last week, the state Senate passed a bill to codify that agreement into law. State Rep. Chris Todd, who supports the Senate bill, has called it a “civil right,” ignoring arguments that expanding access to guns for teenagers could lead to more killings.
That matches with the rhetoric around “constitutional carry,” the gun lobby’s lofty way of saying that no permit should be needed to carry a concealed firearm. The doctrine is the basis of another bill that Todd is backing that would allow open-carry of any firearm, including high-powered rifles. Even testimony against the bill from the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security hasn’t dimmed support from Republicans.
But there’s a wide and constantly growing disconnect between the high-minded rhetoric being…
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